In 1981, an estimated 44 percent of the global population lived in extreme poverty. In 2019, that number shrank to just 9 percent. We often think of poverty as a trap, but recent research shows it doesn’t have to be. The economist and co-founder of GiveDirectly, Paul Niehaus, explains how extreme poverty fell over the past 40 years and how it could be eliminated for good.
Further reading:
“How Poverty Fell,” by Vincent Armentano, Paul Niehaus, and Tom Vogl
“How Progressives Froze the American Dream,” by Yoni Appelbaum
One Illness Away: Why People Become Poor and How They Escape Poverty, by Anirudh Krishna
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55:10
The Death of Feminism
The ’90s are sometimes described as the beginning of the postfeminist era. But if feminism died 30 years ago, who killed it? The Atlantic staff writer Sophie Gilbert seeks to answer this question in her new book, Girl on Girl, and finds a likely suspect in the contemporaneous rise of internet pornography.
Further reading:
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, by Sophie Gilbert
“Don’t Call Them Trash,” by Sophie Gilbert
“Would You Give PornHub Your ID?,” by Jerusalem Demsas
“Romantic Love Is an Under-Rated Driver of Gender Equality,” by Alice Evans
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47:43
The Problem of Finding a Marriageable Man
Women now outnumber men on U.S. college campuses. There’s a common belief that the college gender gap has led to a decrease in marriage rates for college-educated women, but the economist Benny Goldman says the data just don’t support that narrative. Instead, shifts in educational attainment and marriage rates have had a much starker effect on non-college-educated women and low-earning men.
Further reading:
“Bachelors Without Bachelor’s: Gender Gaps in Education and Declining Marriage Rates,” by Benjamin Goldman, Clara Chambers, and Joseph Winkelmann
“Marriage Market Sorting in the U.S,” by Anton Cheremukhin, Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, and Antonella Tutino
Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization, by Brad Wilcox
Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It, by Richard Reeves
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49:37
Minority Rule in America
The Framers of the U.S. Constitution designed a government that they hoped would be impervious to tyranny of the majority. What they didn’t spend much time worrying about was the reverse: a tyranny of the minority. The political scientist Steve Teles explains how very small minorities have come to dominate government and what should be done about it.
Further Reading:
“Minoritarianism Is Everywhere,” by Steve Teles
Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
“The Great Political Sort Is Happening at the Office,” by Jerusalem Demsas
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54:12
Can We Stop Kids From Watching Porn?
States are cracking down on online porn—but is it working? The researcher Zeve Sanderson explains how age-verification laws backfire, why teens outsmart them, and what that means for the future of internet regulation.
Further reading:
“Do Age-Verification Bills Change Search Behavior? A Pre-Registered Synthetic Control Multiverse,” by David Lang, Zeve Sanderson, et al.
“The Online Porn Free-for-All Is Coming to an End,” by Marc Novicoff
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Have you ever heard a commonly held belief or a fast-developing worldview and asked: Is that idea right? Or just good on paper? Each week, host Jerusalem Demsas and a guest take a closer look at the facts and research that challenge the popular narratives of the day, to better understand why we believe what we believe.
Ireland